Occupy Canada

Well, everyone, the best way I have heard Occupy described was by the lovely Toronto Media Coop journalist and editor Megan Kinch who said: "Occupy: Great party, horrible hangover!"

And this isn't the first time I have heard activists express that they feel traumatized by Occupy and its sheer intensity and grandiose scope.

Some people declared that Occupy that the perfect example of a post-revolutionary world and were clearly in love with the ideals of community building, camping, General Assemblies (GAs) and long debates.

Join us on September 17th, the day Parliament reopens after summer recess AND the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, as Occupiers walking from all corners of the country converge on Parliament Hill to stop Harper’s agenda and demand real democracy.

While not traditionally a Canadian event -- we don't celebrate our national day with the same amount of patriotism, reflected in the U.S. motto of "The first duty of a patriot is to defend his country from tyranny (of the one percent) -- our national holiday does give us an opportunity to reflect on what it means to be a dissident on Canadian soil.

I wanted to announce that a state-wide call went out across the United States to gather all occupiers together for a national conference in Philly that runs from Saturday to July 4, 2012.

In the U.S., the Occupy movement respective to each city has been occupying the AGMs of large, multinational corporations such as Wal-Mart and holding demonstrations against NATO.

Over and over again, I hear that the Occupy movement in Canada is having a hard time getting over the fact that a long-term encampment may just not be possible right now -- due to 2011's legal crackdown on Occupy encampments taking up public and private space -- and how to still utilize the spirit behind Occupy as we move into summer 2012.

Occupy is more than just holding physical space; its tactic and purpose is to facilitate the 99 per cent in shining a light on the actions of the one per cent.

The movement and tactic just needs to be reimagined in new and relevant ways.

Perhaps shorter-term occupations as a tool to bring attention to the actions of one per cent corporations?

Occupy Winnipeg set up a temporary camp in the Exchange District of Winnipeg on Thursday May 10, 2012 as a celebration of resistance and stayed the night.

More than a dozen people erected a few tents in Old Market Square for one evening in defiance of City of Winnipeg city bylaws that forbids the erecting of tents on city owned property. That said, the camp was able to remain throughout the night without police intervention.

May Day might not be as big of a spectacle here in Canada as in Europe, but with fresh blood from the Occupy movement, the working class struggle has been given a big boost of vital energy and relevancy regarding the struggle of the 99% against the 1%.

It's cool to be anti-capitalist these days.

Check out a round up Canadian May Day coverage.

Vancouver, BC:

At 1:00 p.m., May Day rallies were held at the Vancouver Art Gallery -- Occupy Vancouver's former stomping ground -- that swelled to 500 people before marching through downtown Vancouver ending on Commercial Drive. This small but mighty march was a successful collaboration between the Vancouver and District Labour Council, the B.C. Federation of Labour and Occupy Vancouver.